Portable press for reducing the size of tubing

ABSTRACT

For reducing the size of a length of tubing, a portable press with two grooved members is provided. The members are arcuate and are mounted so that an opening, with a slightly greater cross sectional size than, but the same shape as, that to which the tubing is to be reduced is defined between the grooves. The members are movable so that the tubing can drawn longitudinally through the opening by friction between the tubing and the movable member, thereby reducing its size.

Unlted States Patent 1 [111 3,834,206 Lamontag'ne Sept. 10, 1974 [54] PORTABLE PRESS FOR REDUCING THE 1,028,654 6/1912 Addison 72/214 SIZE O TUBING 1,364,589 l/l92l Schultz 254/29 [76] Inventor: Edmond Joseph H0110}? Primary Examiner--Lowell A. Larson Lamfmtagnet 1003 Mlchlga Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Rid0ut & Maybee Samla, Canada N752B3 [22] Filed: Apr. 6, 1973 ABSTRACT For reducing the size of a length of tubing, a portable [21] Appl 348582 press with two grooved members is provided. The members are arcuate and are mounted so that an [52] US. Cl 72/211, 72/409, 72/458 opening, with a slightly greater cross sectional size [51] Int. Cl. B2ld 41/04 than, but the same shape as, that to which the tubing [58] Field of Search 72/ 189, 211, 214, 220, is to be reduced is defined between the grooves. The 72/406, 409, 458 members are movable so that the tubing can drawn longitudinally through the opening by friction between [56] References Cited the tubing and the movable member, thereby reducing UNITED STATES PATENTS its 7 741,301 10/ 1903 Briede 721189 3 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures PORTABLE PRESS FOR REDUCING THE SIZE OF TUBING BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This invention relates to a portable press for reducing the size of tubing.

2. Description of the Prior Art It is known to have a press for reducing the size of tubing. Such presses are used, for example, by plumbers to reduce the size of an end portion of a tube that has been expanded by internal pressure. However, many of the previous devices for reducing the size of tubing require an undue amount of time to operate or leave an unsmooth surface on the outside of the tubing, or result in tubing of a different shape from that of the original tubing or result in a sharp transition in the inside of the tubing between the tubing that has been reduced in size and the tubing that has not been reduced.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The press of this invention has two grooved, arcuate members pivotally mounted on a harness. The members are mounted so that an opening is formed between the grooves. The opening has a slightly greater cross sectional size than, but the same shape as, that to which the tubing is to be reduced. Handles are provided for pivoting the arcuate members to draw the tubing longitudinally through the opening, thereby reducing its size.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Two exemplary forms of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a side view of a press in a closed position, about to be used to reduce the end portion of a length of tubing;

FIG. 2 is a side view of the press in an open position, after having reduced said end portion;

FIG. 3 is an end view of the press as shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the press taken along the line 4-4 in FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a broken away side view of a modified form of press in a closed position, the press having toothed members.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring to the drawings in greater detail, in FIGS. 1 to 4, a press 2 for reducing the size of tubing 4 has two semi-circular members 6, 8, having peripheral grooves 10, 12 respectively. The members 6, 8 are pivotably mounted in a harness 14 in a common plane, with their grooves facing each other so that an opening 16 is formed between the members by the grooves 10,12. The grooves 10, 12 of this particular embodiment have a semi-circular cross section, the tubing 4 having a circular cross section. Both members 6,8 are pivoted at their respective centres of curvature 18,20. The member 8 is welded to a sleeve 22 through which extends a bolt 24 fastened to the harness so that the member 8 pivots on the bolt 24. The member 6 is pivoted at a pin 26 which rests in a groove 28 in the member 6, the pin 26 not being attached to the member 6.

An adjustment screw 32, threaded through one end of the harness 14, holds the pin 26 in the groove 28. The purpose of this adjustment screw will be-discussed below. The ends of the pin 26 extend into and are slidably adjustable along a guideway defined by vertical slots 30 on each side of the harness 14.

Handles 34,36 on the members 6,8 respectively can be used to rotate the members 6,8 in opposite directions about their respective pivot points 24,26. When the tubing 4 is placed in contact with the grooves 10,12 as shown in FIG. 1, and the handles 34,36 are pulled apart, as shown in FIG. 2, the tubing 4 is drawn longitudinally through the opening 16 by friction between the tubing 4 and the moveable members 6,8. Usually, for example, when making connections with other tubing of smaller size, it is necessary only to reduce the size of the end portion of the tubing. However, if desired, a greater length of tubing can be reduced in size by repeatedly placing the next part of the tubing that has not been reduced in contact with the grooves 10,12 and pulling the handles apart, thereby drawing the tubing through the opening 16 and reducing its size. Of course, the tubing can be drawn through the opening 16 from the handle side of the press 2 by placing the tubing in contact with the grooves 10,12 on the handle side when the handles 34,36 are apart and then forcing the handles 34,36 together.

In FIGS. 1 to 4, the screw 32 is adjusted so that peripheries 38,40 of the members 6,8 respectively are in contact at a point 41. When the screw 32 is turned outward, the periphery 38 of the member 8 can be moved slightly out of contact with the periphery 40 of the member 6 when the tubing is drawn into the opening 16. Where it is desired to reduce the size of tubing that is too large to be drawn into the normal (smallest) size of the opening 16, the size of the opening 16 can be increased slightly by loosening the adjustment screw 32. Then, the tubing to be reduced can be drawn through the opening 16 in two stages. First, the tubing is drawn through the enlarged opening 16 and reduced slightly in size. Next, the screw 32 is returned to the position where the peripheries 38,40 are held in contact and the tubing is drawn through the opening 16 a second time, thereby reducing it to the desired size.

In FIG. 5, in another embodiment of the invention, the press 2 is shown with teeth 42,43 along the respective peripheries 34,35 of the members 6,8 adjacent to the grooves 10,12. The teeth 32,34 intermesh to ensure that the members 6,8 will be rotated at the same angular velocity, and thus an even pressure is applied to the tubing 4 when it is drawn through the opening 16.

A particular application of the press of this invention occurs when a line of tubing that has been enlarged by internal pressure, for example, steam pressure, is in need of repair and part of that line must be replaced by new tubing. The press can be used to resize the connecting ends of the enlarged tubing to their original size so that new tubing can be inserted in the line by connecting it to the resized ends.

A press with grooves of a certain size can be used to reduce the size of tubing to one particular size corresponding to the minimum size of the opening 16 formed between the grooves. When it is desired to reduce the size of tubing to a different size, members with grooves corresponding to that different size must be mounted in the harness of the press. Both of the grooved members 6 and 8 are arcuate, and are moved simultaneously to draw the tubing between them. Modifications within the scope of the attached claims will readily occur to those skilled in the art.

What I claim as my invention is:

l. A portable press for reducing the size of tubing, comprising a rigid harness, a pair of arcuate members pivotally mounted on the harness in the same plane so that the curved peripheries of the arcuate members are in contact or nearly in contact, each arcuate member having a smooth groove along its periphery, an opening being defined between said curved peripheries by said grooves, the opening having a slightly greater cross sectional size than, but the same smooth shape as, that to which the tubing is to be reduced, a pair of handles pivotally mounted with the arcuate members on the harness and manually movable, when grasped, to force the arcuate members to pivot and thereby grip and draw the tubing longitudinally through the opening by friction between the tubing and the pivoting arcuate members, whereby the tubing is reduced to the desired size.

2. A press as claimed in claim 1 wherein the pivotal mount of one of the arcuate members is a pin slidably adjustable along a guideway of the harness so that the members can be moved slightly out of contact.

3. A portable press as claimed in claim 2, wherein said one of the arcuate members is pivotable relative to the pin, and the position of the pin along the guideway is adjustable by turning an adjustment screw on the har- 

1. A portable press for reducing the size of tubing, comprising a rigid harness, a pair of arcuate members pivotally mounted on the harness in the same plane so that the curved peripheries of the arcuate members are in contact or nearly in contact, each arcuate member having a smooth groove along its periphery, an opening being defined between said curved peripheries by said grooves, the opening having a slightly greater cross sectional size than, but the same smooth shape as, that to which the tubing is to be reduced, a pair of handles pivotally mounted with the arcuate members on the harness and manually movable, when grasped, to force the arcuate members to pivot and thereby grip and draw the tubing longitudinally through the opening by friction between the tubing and the pivoting arcuate members, whereby the tubing is reduced to the desired size.
 2. A press as claimed in claim 1 wherein the pivotal mount of one of the arcuate members is a pin slidably adjustable along a guideway of the harness so that the members can be moved slightly out of contact.
 3. A portable press as claimed in claim 2, wherein said one of the arcuate members is pivotable relative to the pin, and the position of the pin along the guideway is adjustable by turning an adjustment screw on the harness. 